Dining Council Meeting

So at the Dining Council meeting we had this past Monday, October 26th, and here are a few notes and comments I made on it:

McClurg had fair-trade coffee and tea- Royal Cup. Here is what their website says: Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms have met rigorous environmental and social standards including biodiversity conservation, worker protection, and healthcare and education for children of farm workers. http://www.royalcupcoffee.com/Default.aspx?skip=1

The display food is washed, sanitized, and used again.

Organic labels will be back next week. The little stands need to be ordered (didn't we have stands last year?)

Organic food is bought if Sysco is offering and run as long as possible. In the Sustainability Report Card, they state many times that they do not get reports from Sysco about how much food is local or organic- we should push for Sysco to start doing this and to look for more organic, local food. I feel like if we keep pushing them to make sustainability more important, they will eventually listen, right?

The Globe and Pub are facing major changes. The Globe will merge with the Pantry and become part of Barnes and Nobles and might be called POD- provisions on demand, who will put in a little Starbucks coffee grab-and-go thing- WHICH WE SHOULD FIGHT AND PROTEST AGAINST! We DO NOT want Starbucks competing with Stirlings! Randall (ARAMARK-University liasion) said they are willing to allow another company, like GreenLife maybe, to create a convience store with organic cereal, local produce, and local crafts. We'll see. Let's keep pushing for this and make sure we emphasis we want as much local as possible.

The Pub is going to expand into the SPO and remain in the hands of ARAMARK- they are going to turn part of this area into a lounge with large TVs and such. I think we should ask for healthier options to be part of the menu.

Scott said at one point that Paul Dixon has been picking up the coffee grounds regularly every Monday. Paul's only picked them up once and then they stopped doing it. Scott also claimed the compost bucket that the GreenHouse runs as an ARAMARK thing, and claims that food is donated to food shelters, which at the meeting Randall said was impossible. He says that some outragous amount of food is composted- like 75% or something (it is in the report). I sent him an email asking for an explaination of this fact and others that sounds dubious.

Overall, the meeting went well, but there is definitely room for improvement. I hope in the next meeting, which is noon on Monday, November 16th (an email will be sent out), that more people can come and emphasis worker rights, sustainability, and whatever else we think of- maybe we can reply to this with ideas or questions.

Peace!
kate

Talking with Scott

Here are notes from meeting with Scott and Rocco.

Meeting with Jess

Notes from meeting with Jess and Stella here. Look at that hyperlink magic.

Oberlin Food

So...Contact people: I've talked to Dr. Kuppinger. Sent an email to Aaron @ George Jones, but haven't heard back from him. Haven't talked to Victoria yet.

Like some of the other colleges we've looked at, Oberlin is supplied by Bon Appetit, which means the whole local food package comes with the company. And they have what looks like an incredibly awesome farm/nature preserve called George Jones that is connected with City Fresh in Cleveland (something of an urban version of the CAC), a CSA, and possibly food in Oberlin. This all makes me want to go visit as soon as I get home in December.

Research is here. I hope.

"University Liaison with Aramark"

Randall Taylor, the director of University Auxiliary Service & Purchasing, is also the University Liaison with Aramark. His "primary responsibility is to insure that our contractual terms are satisfied". So he is the guy to talk to about ARAMARK who isn't actually employed by ARAMARK.

Oct 1 Gathering Notes

Today was a difficult day. We talked about food for a bit, in between caves and a vigil.

Remember that this is about people and friends, not just food.

what we did this week:
Deanna & Stella talked to Jess Wilson; will post report on blog.
jane & olivia helped out at the farmers market

what we will do this next week:
kate will write up thoughts & suggestions from last year
jane & olivia will return to the farmers market
Bill will talk to Smith.
jane, compton, & michael will plan farmers potluck for the week of october 23rd.
everyone will read research from blog.
Follow up on Deanna & Stella's new suggestions.

Next gathering: 8pm Thursday Oct 8th in the LAL.

Local food & community building can be overwhelming. While Sewanee has a long, long ways to go, we have to think about this not as a problem, but as a wonderful opportunity to do something no one has ever done before. let's make it happen.

Past Local Food Radicalism

Here is a link for all the liability stuff I dug up from last semester:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZQPAQCYsODDZGNxdnNzemtfMjBkN3dydDRmcw&hl=en

What we can do NOW:
OG Resolution to get local food
Food committee action to get the money needed for the pricier local food
Organic farm tours
Potlucks with local farmers and McClurg workers to get to know them
Find farms that want to sell to ARAMARK. We might have to go beyond the 20 miles that we have been focusing on. These can include:
Kyle and Jake at Jump-off Community Farm - kylelarsen13@gmail.com
Fey Raine and Wolf Barjkana at Black Mountain Farm- feyraine@yahoo.com
Cheese from the Keeners once the dairy is going
Williams Island

Who knows? Maybe a co-op would work if you get the farms to agree to participate in such a thing and get one of the farmers to head it (a student could lead it, but there is problem with graduation and losing interest). So here is the information that has been researched in the past for co-ops at Sewanee. Callie Flowers has some more info she sent me and I can't figure out how to get it on here, so let me know if you want it.

Furman-- GO to website at the end of the post- very helpful

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dn6fkvc_1x4cnw2cv